Escape With Ease
by Andruindel
Summary: Ease, the newest orphan at Wammy's house, has to decide if she'd rather have Mello and Matt as friends or enemies.  rated for nothing, yet
1. Chapter 1

Evrona Scott had been a normal, happy little girl. She had lived with her father who had full custody of her, and every other weekend she stayed with her mother. Their family, though broken, was dealing. Or so they thought Evrona had been. She adjusted; she spent time with her friends. To all appearances she was dealing with things and moving on. No one could have guessed at the rage building up inside her.

Now, months after the divorce, she stood alone outside a huge wrought-iron gate, gazing up at the orphanage she would soon be calling home. The sun was at it s late-morning stage, the point where it finally starts giving off substantial heat. The girl stood for a long time just staring at the huge building. It rested on a hill, surrounded by lush, green lawns and blooming flowers. It looked like a pleasant place-To look at through the gate, not to live in.

Evrona Scott was twelve years old but she was very small for her age. Her hair was a mousy, dirty blond color, and it fell to her mid-back in layers, framing her thin, pale face. She gazed up at the orphanage-Wammy's House-with a pair of black eyes; her eyes were huge and sharp against her pale complexion. No one would have guessed that she was an orphan. She stood with her shoulders thrown back, her chin lifted in a defiant manner, and her feet spread to a shoulder's length apart. Her entire demeanor screamed that she was independent, and the expensive clothes she wore indicated that one or both of her parents had been very well off financially.

After what seemed a very long time, the girl finally moved. She was unaccompanied but seemed very sure of where she was going. She pulled open the heavy gate, obviously with a great amount of effort, and stepped into the orphanage s grounds. The lawns were empty and the grounds had that unmistakable hush covering them that indicated that classes were in session.

Wammy's house was no ordinary orphanage. It was an orphanage where only the most intelligent kids were sent. An orphanage filled with child prodigies and special cases. In Evrona's case, she was more on the special case side of things. Her father had been a very wealthy man and wanted nothing but the best for his little girl. Wammy's house had been his first choice for an orphanage to send his daughter to in the event of his death. Seeing as she had no other family to speak of, after her parents' untimely deaths she had been sent to Wammy's, just as her father wished.

As she walked across the pavement toward the large building, her heart was beating quickly. She hated the fact that it was. There was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. Unexpectedly, when she reached the front door she found a young boy sitting outside on the bottom step. He was about Evrona's own age of twelve, had dark, reddish-brown hair and stunningly blue eyes. He was gazing off into space, a game boy hanging loosely in his limp grasp and a pair of goggles hanging around his neck.

"Excuse me," Evrona stepped closer to the boy. "I'm looking for Roger."

"Do I look like a signpost?" The boy asked without turning away from his contemplation of empty air.

Evrona raised an eyebrow at him. "No. I was trying to ask for help. My name is Evrona, by the way. I'm going to be living here now."

Finally the boy looked at her. "I heard you were coming. Name's Matt." He shoved his hand at her, and Evrona shook it, meeting his eyes. The two children looked one another up and down, each liking what they saw. Matt was wearing a white vest and a red and black striped shirt. He looked at her with a little smirk on his face. "What kind of name is Evrona?"

"The name I was given," Evrona allowed a smile to creep across her face. "Now, can you please tell me where I m supposed to go?"

Matt stood up, throwing a companionable arm around Evrona's shoulders. "I'll do better than that, kid. I'll be your friend."

Evrona looked up at him, hating the feel of his arm around her shoulder but resigning herself to having made a new friend already.

And that was the beginning of an interesting time in the young girl's life.

lilili

A/N: Hey guys! Here's the promised DN story. Let me know if you'd rather see this one of my FMA one updated most often. I'm jumping feet first into the world of fan fiction again, so I could use encouragement, advice, and lots and lots of praise :D Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Escape With Ease

Chapter Two

By Andruindel

lilili

"Hey, Ease."

Ease—as Evrona had come to be known—took a deep breath, dropped her head into her hands, and massaged her brow slowly. "Yes, Mello?"

More than a year had somehow passed. Time can alternately seem to fly and seem to crawl. That year had been one of those years that seemed to crawl past painfully slowly. Now, not only did Ease have Matt as a "friend" but she had been forced into another "friendship" of sorts with the dark-haired boy's best friend Mello. It had been a slow, painful year indeed for Ease.

Matt and Mello sat down heavily on either side of Ease on the cold stone bench she had occupied for the last hour. "I heard a rumor about you today." Mello stated in a very smug tone of voice.

_ Oh no,_ Ease thought to herself, closing her book and turning to look at the irritating blond at last. "What did you hear?"

"I heard that your birthday is next week."

In the year that Ease had been at Wammy's house, she had managed to keep a lot of information about herself private. Only Roger knew her age and full name. No one knew why she was in the orphanage, other than the standard "My parents are dead" answer she could always provide them with. Even Matt—her supposed "friend"—knew only the basics about her, things he could find out simply by observing her actions and behavior. For instance: she had an uncommon love of books and reading; she favored video games and books to homework; her favorite book was The Lord of the Rings; and she had a stuffed bear that Matt had once spotted peeping out from under her bed, but knew he should never mention if he wanted to live.

_ How on earth did he find out?_

"Who told you?" Ease asked out loud, gazing seriously at her "friend."

"Roger happened to mention it in passing. He suggested we do something nice for you, since we're your only friends." A malicious grin twisted Mello's features.

A twinge went through Ease's heart at the words. As much as she hated the idea, it hurt that she had no friends."Who else knows?" The words flew out of her mouth before she had thought.

After a moment's consideration, Mello shrugged. "Just the three of us. And Roger, of course. Why?"

Ease forced a smirk onto her face. "No reason. Don't you have some homework to do, Mello? You promised you'd have your homework done on time this week." There was no better way to send Mello packing than by bringing up school.

Sure enough, Mello stood up and stalked away. "Nice outfit." He snapped as a parting shot. Ease glanced down at herself, at the tattered jeans and too big t-shirt she was wearing. Was there something wrong with dressing relaxed on occasion?

Matt stood up to follow Mello away. Ease mimicked his action, reaching out to take his hand in both of hers.

"Please, Matt," It was funny, she had always thought, the way Matt always seemed to wear black gloves. The boy looked at his hand held in both of hers and then hastily lifted his eyes to her face again. It was difficult to see his sharp, blue gaze through the orange tinted goggles, but Ease knew she had his attention. "Please, don't let anyone else know. No one else can know about my birthday, understand?"

She gazed earnestly at him. _Please, please don't ask me why. _She pleaded silently in her mind.

For a long moment Matt gazed silently at her. She tightened her grip on his hand, willing him to understand. "No." He finally answered truthfully. "I don't understand. But I won't tell anyone else if you don't want me to..." He sounded doubtful and a bit confused.

"Thank you, Matt." Ease gave him a grateful smile. It wasn't often that the expressions on her face were real, but this time the smile she allowed to curve her lips was genuine. Matt could see that it was, even though he didn't think Ease knew he could read her that well. As good as she thought she was at hiding her emotions, Matt could always see through her. Her eyes were an open book to someone who knew her the way Matt did. Of course, Ease had no idea that Matt knew her as well as he did. That was the only reason Matt remained silent, turned, and followed Mello away, leaving Ease to sit and read, as she had been doing before they had interrupted.

Exactly a week later, Ease awoke to a very heavy sense of depression. She lay in bed staring at the ceiling, her thoughts focused on just one fact: the fact that she was celebrating her thirteenth birthday alone, in an orphanage. Tears sprang into her eyes, but she would not let them fall. After taking several deep breaths, she had her emotions in check again, and she slouched out of bed to begin another long day of classes and social obligations.

The day turned out to be even worse than she could have imagined. Mello was full of endless meaningful glances and snide remarks. Matt said nothing; he barely even looked at her all day. And she was so busy trying to keep her emotions from spilling over that she failed the test she had to take in History.

But to top it all off, when Ease wandered back to her bedroom that afternoon, relieved to have survived the first part of her day, she found a disaster. Her bedroom door stood open. Heart pumping, she sprinted the remaining few feet down the hall to her room. Someone had been inside. No one else would have been able to tell, but Ease could see it. The books on her bookshelf were out of order, and the book she was currently reading, The Two Towers, was missing. A scrap of paper lying conspicuously on the floor caught her attention and she stooped to pick it up.

It was a yellowish color, and it crackled as she unfolded it.

_ If you want your book back, leave twenty dollars under the cushions on the game room couch_

As though the note itself was not infuriating enough, it had been written on the title page of her book. White hot rage boiled up inside the girl. To steal her book was one thing. To abuse it was a different crime all together.

_ Wait,_ Her thoughts told her to calm down and think about the situation rationally. Who would steal her book and then demand a ransom? Obviously one of the boys, or even a few of the boys. A frown creased her brow and she lifted her fist to her mouth, biting her knuckle as she thought hard. And then finally, a realization hit her.

_ Mello!_

Sometimes, people jump to conclusions. They think they have all the facts and they jump to a conclusion that is entirely and utterly wrong. And all too often it is just this rash act that results in the ruination of friendship.

If Ease had been a bit older—and known the dangers of jumping to conclusions—maybe she would have given the situation some more thought before rushing downstairs in search of Mello. But a thirteen year old girl can only know so much about the world, so she marched down the stairs, into the library, and straight up to Mello. Heaven only knows what Mello was doing in the library. Usually the library was where Ease went when she wanted to avoid Mello. It was always quiet, it was full of interesting books, and there was a window seat in one corner she loved sitting on when she read. It was the only place in the entire orphanage that Mello almost never went.

"Mello!" She stomped to a stop in front of the blond, glaring hard at him. "You can't just go into peoples' rooms, steal their books and then demand a ransom!"

Mello stared blankly at her. "What are you talking about?"

"You stole my book!"

Again, Mello only gave her a blank stare, and on his right, Matt was busily playing some video game that had captured his attention. "The Two Towers! My book!" Ease glared, feeling her cheeks heat up as her passions rose.

"Ease," Matt spoke up from where he sat, still almost entirely focused on his video game. "I don't think Mello took your book. And it's not usually a good idea to accuse your friends of petty theft."

Suddenly, Ease realized that Matt was right. Mello had absolutely no reason to steal her book. He knew by now that Ease had no limit on money. She got an allowance every week from the money her father had left her, and being a girl with few real needs, she spent only a little of it every so often. This resulted in both boys being on the receiving end whenever Ease felt she wanted to spend some money on sweets. With an indescribable emotion causing her cheeks to burn and her eyes to sting, Ease turned abruptly and fled.

With her thoughts in roiling turmoil, Ease escaped to one of the only sanctuaries she knew: The stone bench in the middle of the grounds, where she could sit for hours and contemplate the mysteries of life.

Back in the library, Mello and Matt were conversing quietly. It was actually very rare to hear Matt say anything. The only people he spoke to on a regular basis were Mello and Ease. So the sight of Mello and Matt sitting in the library, holding a heated but whispered conversation, was an odd one indeed.

"You need to go find her." Matt whispered to Mello. He gazed seriously at his friend through his piercing blue eyes, not relenting until Mello finally gave in.

"I have a better idea. You go find her, make sure she's not crying or whatever, and then I'll come find you guys... eventually.."

Matt knew a good deal when he heard one. He nodded and stood up, slipping his game boy into his pocket as he did. He gave Mello one more serious look and then left the library in search of Ease. He knew exactly where she would be, too. Ease may not have known it, but she was highly predictable. During the year or so that Matt had known her, Ease had displayed a few very blatant facts. One: she was a bit OCD. Two: She was a creature of habit. And three: She never retreated to a corner when feeling angry, upset, or threatened. Matt wasn't quite sure of the reasons, but Ease always retreated to the same stone bench out in the middle of the grounds, where anyone could see her or approach her. Some day, he would probably figure out why she did this, but for now all he knew for certain was that he would find her on that bench.

And sure enough, that was where she was when he stepped out of the orphanage and looked around. He approached slowly, gauging her mood by her posture. She was upset; her shoulders were hunched and she was picking at her thumbs. But she didn't look too upset to not want to talk.

So Matt sat down beside her but said nothing. He was best at listening, after all.

After several minutes, Ease sighed deeply and her posture shifted. Her head went down and her shoulders slumped even more. "Matt, why do you and Mello put up with me?" She asked. She pulled her feet up onto the bench, resting her forehead against her knees.

Matt considered for a moment, thinking over all his options. He himself had no real idea why he tolerated the girl. As for Mello, the gamer knew it was just the fact that he was Mello's best friend that kept him from completely driving Ease away. "I think the better question is: Why do you tolerate me and Mello?"

This time, Ease lifted her head and focused a piercing gaze on him. "Matthew, don't you ever say something like that again." She spoke far more forcefully than Matt had ever heard her speak before. Her eyes, those strange black eyes, peered up at him from behind a curtain of dirty-blond hair. "You're the only friend—I mean, you're not _that_ hard to put up with. All you do is sit around and play video games. Actually, that's one of the reasons I hang out with you."

Matt glanced sideways at Ease. "Alright, if you say so. I'm gonna go find Mello." He stood up, not feeling bad in the least for leaving her. He had spoken to her, at least as much as he was ever able to speak, and now he needed to find Mello.

lililili

Almost an hour later, Ease was lying half asleep on her bed. Since talking with Matt she had seen neither one of the boys. She assumed they had just gone about their own business. She had no idea where they were. Just like her book. So it came as a surprise when someone knocked on her door. She never got visitors, and she was not currently sharing the room.

Coming out of her doze, Ease scrambled to her feet and toward the door. When she opened it she stood speechless, her eyes wide and all ability to speak lost.

Mello and Matt stood outside her door. The blond sported a heavily bruised eye and a cut lip. Matt's hair was a mess, but otherwise he looked brilliant compared to Mello.

"Here." Mello snarled. He shoved something into Ease's hands and she took it without thinking.

"What?" Her eyes fell to the object in her hands and she stared. It was her book. The cover was bent and some of the pages torn, but it was her book. "My book!" She exclaimed, turning a shining gaze on Mello.

"We fought for it." Mello claimed nonchalantly.

A sheen of tears filled Ease's eyes. These boys had fought to get her book back. Quickly blinking the tears away and letting her instincts guide her, she threw herself at Mello and hugged him tight around the neck. She knew it made him uncomfortable, but she was too happy to care. After hugging Mello she turned and hugged Matt too. Matt accepted her hug more willingly than Mello did.

"Thank you, guys." She said sincerely.

They mumbled indistinctly, avoiding her eyes.

A few awkward moments passed, but Ease knew that she would never think of Mello and Matt as inconveniences again.

They were her friends. Her real friends.

lililili

A/N: Hey, guys. I decided to update this one next, since I'm still working on time-line and stuff in my other story. So, here's chapter two. I hope you liked it, and I hope you like Ease. I think the next chapter is going to be a lot longer, and then after that I don't have any more written, so it may be a bit before I update. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please review. I write better when I know people are reading :3


	3. Chapter 3

Escape with Ease

Chapter Three

By Andruindel

Even though Ease now knew that Matt and Mello were what she called "real friends," she was still adjusting to life with friends who she was not just using to avoid ridicule. As a result not only of her inexperience with real friends but of their conflicting personalities, she and Mello argued and fought constantly.

About a week after the book incident, the trio sat in the game room. Matt and Ease were on the couch, Mello was lounging in an armchair, his legs flung over one of the arms. On the floor was a third boy, one whom Ease did not know well and did not particularly like. But since he was just sitting quietly in a corner building a jigsaw puzzle, Ease barely noticed him. As was usual and typical, Matt was playing his game boy and Ease was watching him, as she had learned he did not mind.

Ease could never explain to herself, either mentally, out loud, or in ink, but there was just something comfortable about Matt. When she was with him she never felt as though she needed to be careful what she said or did. The defenses she had worked so hard to construct were lowered when she was around him. So, as she was watching him play video games, if she decided to put an arm around his shoulders to get a better view neither of them minded.

"I'm bored." Mello claimed form his slouched position across his room.

"This _is _the game room, Mello." Ease reminded him from where she was, curled up beside Matt. It was nice, the way he always leaned a little toward her and tilted the game so she could see.

"Play scrabble with me, Ease." The blond demanded. Ease knew that tone of voice. In the year or so she had known Mello she had learned that he expected to be obeyed when he used that tone of voice. Of course, that didn't mean she was just going to give in.

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm bored and you're just watching Matt play his stupid video games."

"Maybe I'd like to watch Matt play his stupid game."

"I'll make it interesting."

That caught Ease' attention. When Mello said he would make something interesting, he meant it. She slid off the couch onto the floor, looking keenly up at Mello.

"I propose a wager. If I win, you have to wear a dress for a week."

"A week!" Ease immediately protested. "I don't even own that many dresses!"

"Why so worried?" Mello taunted. "It's not like you'll have people staring at you."

That was Mello's favorite taunt. Being so small for her age, Ease was one of those 'late bloomers,' and Mello was very aware of how self conscious that made her sometimes.

"Maybe you should wear them. They'd fit your figure perfectly." Ease shot back. The boy in the corner looked up, but Matt ignored his two friends. He had heard the same fight many times before.

After a few minutes of squabbling, they fell back on the subject of the bet. "If I win," Ease began. "You give me seven bars of chocolate."

"Seven?" Mello sounded shocked.

"It's fair," The younger boy in the corner spoke up. "Seven bars for seven dresses."

"Shut up, Near." Mello and Ease said together.

The younger boy obediently shut up and Mello and Ease turned to face one another again. For a moment Mello considered. He eyed Ease keenly, as though trying to figure out how or if she was planning something. Finally, he nodded. "Alright. Deal."

"Deal." Ease repeated, and they shook hands.

Most of us know that scrabble is not an intense game. There might be some words like 'cat' or 'honey'. But the excitement level is way down. In this game of scrabble, the two players were the most intense players to ever play the game.

Ease started off with a simple word. "Avid." She said, and she turned her eyes up at Mello.

"Bane." Mello retaliated, and the game was on.

Words flew between the two kids.

"Covert."

"Grovel."

"Latent."

"Incite."

"Opaque."

And then Ease was out of words. She had an 'X', and a 'Q'. Her intense gaze swept over the board, searching for somewhere to put a letter. There had to be a place.

"Well, Ease?" Mello sat back, a very smug look on his face.

Ease was beginning to panic. There was no where she could use the letters she had. Still frantically looking, she began to realize it was hopeless. But she still hated to admit it. Tears began to brim behind her eyes, and she kept her gaze focused firmly on the board, silently hating Mello. After a long minute, she let out a shaky sigh.

"What's the matter, Ease? Are you gonna cry?" Mello taunted her.

Suddenly something snapped, and Ease jumped to her feet, kicking the game board. Letters flew in all directions. "I hate you, Mello!" She screamed, and she sprinted out of the room and in the direction of the yard, where her favorite bench waited for her.

In the game room, Mello was laughing hysterically. He could barely breath he was laughing so hard. Matt ignored him, though his eyebrows drew together slightly in the smallest of frowns as he played his game. He knew Mello very well, and he knew exactly why the blond boy had asked Ease to play with him. Mello enjoyed pushing peoples' buttons. It was just in his nature to do so, and of all people, Ease's buttons were the most fun to push. At least, to Mello they were. Personally, Matt preferred Ease when she was watching him play video games, her arm thrown companionably around his shoulders so she could get a better view. He hated it when Mello decided to tease her until she cried.

Still, Matt knew better than to go after her. Mello would only tease him, and the odds were that Ease wouldn't appreciate his efforts. Heaving a huge sigh, Matt pretended to focus on his video game, though really his thoughts were elsewhere. Mello and Ease needed to learn how to get along.

For the next few days, things were tense at Wammy's house. Not only were Ease and Mello not speaking to one another, but L, their resident detective, had returned. His visits to Wammy's house during Ease's stay had been sporadic, and so far she had exchanged no more than a few words with him. This time, he was going to stay for longer than a day or two, and each of the kids was secretly hoping that he would find the time to talk with them. Each of them except for Ease. She was positively apathetic. She could not have cared less whether or not the great and terrible L chose to speak to her. She was too busy resenting Mello and hating every day of that week to care about L.

True to her word—Ease never broke her word if she could help it—Ease wore a dress or skirt every day that week. She didn't look very happy about it the few times Matt saw her, but she did look pretty. Matt wanted to tell her, but something stopped him from doing so. It might have been Mello's angry glares, or Ease's sullen attitude, or maybe it had been something else entirely. Whatever it was, Matt avoided both of his friends as often as possible. He didn't like being caught in the middle of their arguments.


	4. Chapter 4

Escape with Ease

Chapter Four

By Andruindel

"Ease, you look so pretty!" Rebbecca, one of the many girls at Wammy House, squealed.

Ease tried to smile, but only after she had winced. That was the main reason she didn't spend time with the other girls. They squealed. All the time. Sometimes because of the latest gossip, sometimes because a cute boy did something that they found appallingly interesting, sometimes for no reason at all. Ease much preferred hanging out with people who didn't squeal all the time, but since she and Mello were not talking and Matt was too afraid of Mello to talk to her, she had to put up with the girls.

"Thank you." She muttered sullenly.

Rebbecca apparently didn't notice how sullen Ease had been for the last week. No, all she noticed was that Ease, in an insane last-ditch attempt to get Matt and Mello to notice her, had worn the prettiest dress she owned. And yes, she did look pretty. Her mousy hair fell in ringlets to her shoulders, and her dress was white with a pattern of dainty pink flowers scattered across it.

All her attempts to be noticed had failed though. All the way across the grounds, Matt and Mello were sitting on her favorite bench, ignoring her pointedly. She didn't mind being ignored; she didn't even mind that Mello had made her wear a dress every day for a week, but when the boys stole her favorite bench, that was the last straw.

Suddenly the girls around her fell quiet. Ease looked around, honestly a little shocked that something had been able to make them stop giggling and gossiping. When she looked, she nearly choked in an entirely new sense of shock. L, the dark, mysterious detective, was standing directly in front of her. She had not seen a lot of the older boy in her year at Wammy's, but the first time she saw him she had noticed several things about him—The way he stood, with his hands shoved into his pockets, his shoulders hunched, and his knees slightly bent, the dark circles under his eyes that indicated he didn't sleep a lot, and the way everyone in the orphanage seemed to worship the very ground he walked on.

"L." She said shortly. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Likewise," He offered his hand, and she shook it.

"What can I do for you?" She asked. The other girls slipped quietly away; she hardly acknowledged their departure. The man in front of her was both intimidating and entirely fascinating.

He gave a little shrug. "I just wanted to meet you. I'd heard about you but up until now I hadn't had the time to seek you out. How do you like it here?"

Ease took a moment to answer. Looking at L, it was very difficult to guess his age. He could have been anywhere between seventeen and twenty-four, but she put a very rough estimate at the lower end of the spectrum. When she did answer, she kept her reply very short and to the point. "It's different than I expected."

L suddenly looked decidedly bored. "Yes, it usually is." He murmured. "Well, it was a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ease."

He left without another word, wending his way across the lawn to the bench where Matt and Mello were talking among themselves. Ease watched him go, wondering what he had wanted. Certainly he hadn't only wanted to meet her. She had the distinct feeling that he had been testing her, and she felt even more distinctly that she had failed his inspection. With a shrug and a bitter mumble to herself about "creepy weirdos," she made her way across the lawn in the opposite direction. There was bound to be something to do somewhere in the grounds.

The grounds slowly went quiet around her as her fellow orphans were called back into class. Ease herself had no more classes that day, so she was free to wander the grounds as she pleased until dinner. When the grounds were empty, Ease liked to walk aimlessly around the building and the fence-line. Sometimes she would reach the gate and stand for a long minute considering how easy it would be to climb over the fence and escape. Common sense always got the best of her though. Even if she did manage to get out, where would she go? Roger would find her and bring her back, and she would just be confined to her room for a month for leaving the grounds without permission.

So she always left in the end and wandered back to her room to read.

Today, she took her usual route around the grounds, walking close to the fence and trailing her hand across the wrought-iron bars. Her fingers bumped evenly against the bars as she walked, making a soft thunking noise against the cold metal. She was hardly paying attention to where she was going; blankly, she stared off into space, thinking over her predicament with Mello. She had gone longer than this without talking to the two boys before, but she was beginning to grow tired of constantly fighting with Mello. The blond had issues she was getting sick of.

She was drawn out of her thoughts when she heard a faint mewling noise. Looking around, she stopped in her tracks, afraid to move.

The sounds continued. They seemed to be coming from a shrub growing close to the fence. She had been just about to go around the bush, but now she got down on her knees, ignoring the dirt she was getting on her dress. Very, very slowly she inched her way toward the bush and pushed a low-growing branch out of the way. Her heart jumped at the sight that greeted her. Four tiny kittens nestled under the bush. They were mewling and crying for their mother, who was suspiciously absent. Ease looked around but the mother was no where to be seen. She must have been killed, she thought sadly. Otherwise she never would have left her kittens for so long. They were hardly old enough to crawl.

She knew instantly what she had to do.

But she would need help to do it.

Matt and Mello were still sitting on Ease's favorite bench. Matt was busily playing his video game while Mello sat quietly swinging his legs back and forth and thinking. L was back, and it looked like he might be staying for a while this time. That meant that Mello and Matt would have some time to spend with their resident detective. As two of the man's potential successors, this meant a lot to the two boys.

"Did you see L talking to Ease earlier?" Mello asked. He was in a grumpy mood, as usual.

Matt shrugged.

"I wonder what he said to her. He didn't look like he liked her."

Matt didn't have much to say on the subject. He was just about to beat a boss on his game that he'd been struggling with for the last three days. Now, after days of training, leveling up, and buying new items, he was ready to try again.

"Matt! Mello!"

He nearly dropped his gameboy in surprise as Ease bounded up to them from somewhere across the lawns. Taking a second to pause his game, he pushed his goggles up onto his head to stare at her in open awe. She was clearly agitated, there was dirt on her dress, and for the first time in a week she was not ignoring either one of them.

She didn't give Mello enough time to say anything scathing. "You have to come with me quick!"

When Matt glanced at Mello, she took his hand in both of hers, tugging anxiously. "Please, guys, please! I need your help!"

The boys exchanged looks and stood up together. Without another word Ease pulled Matt across the lawn by the hand, with Mello tagging along complaining loudly. But he trailed off as Ease threw herself to her knees beside a bush. Glancing at Matt, he spun a finger close to his head to indicate he thought she was crazy. Then Ease looked up at them, and the boys stared as they realized her arms were full of kittens.

"I think their mother must've left them. They're all alone, we have to help them!" Ease stared at them with wide eyes, sticking her bottom lip out just enough to make Matt instantly want to help.

Mello took a little more persuading though. He stubbornly folded his arms and stood his ground while Matt went to his knees and picked up a little gray-striped kitten. Ignoring the pitiful mewing, Mello frowned. "They're just some dumb cats. Why should we help them?"

Giving Ease a look, Matt stood up. He silently offered the tiny, gray-striped kitten to Mello. The blond stared at the kitten for a long minute while it squirmed and squeaked in Matt's hands. Then he gave in, taking the kitten and cradling it in his arms while staring at the ground.

"Fine." He said, still trying to sound angry about it. "But we can't let L or Roger find out. We're not supposed to keep pets."

Ease and Matt both agreed. Matt and Mello took a kitten each, while Ease cradled the other two in her arms, then the three of them started slowly across the lawn. They needed a safe place to stash the kittens; if Roger or L found them, they'd be sure to take them away. Taking charge, Mello led them swiftly across the grounds and through the front door. Everyone was either in class or elsewhere, luckily, so they met no one as they made their way toward the stairs that would lead them to the attic.

Just as they got to the foot of the stairs, Mello passed his kitten off to Matt. "You guys go up, I'll be right back."

Ease and Matt hurried up the stairs together, holding tightly to the four squirming kittens. It was difficult without hurting them; they had to hold on to them tightly to keep them from escaping. Still, somehow they managed to get the four kittens up to the attic and close the door behind them. Once they were there, Ease held the kittens while Matt cleared a space among all the boxes, old chairs, and general clutter and crap that no doubt no one remembered was up there. He made a small space with several boxes forming a barrier that would hopefully keep the kittens from escaping.

"There, that should work. Set them down."

Ease was glad to do so. The gray-striped kitten was especially ferocious; he sank his teeth into Ease's finger as she set his siblings down in the clear space. She yelped. Matt jumped to her rescue, pulling the kitten out of her arms and setting him beside his siblings. Because of his long sleeves, Matt managed to avoid any bites.

Sucking the bite, Ease glared at the tiny gray-striped cat. "Well, if that's all I get for saving your life." She grumbled, but she didn't mean it. The kittens huddled together, scared, angry, and no doubt horribly confused. She settled down cross-legged on the floor, pulling one of the more timid kittens into her lap. The gray-striped one hissed at her as she reached toward them, but she managed to scoop up his gray and white sister without getting scratched.

By the time Mello returned, the kittens had all calmed down considerably, except for the little gray-striped one. He was still belligerently hissing and clawing at the two children if they got too near. His siblings were perfectly content to lay in Ease and Matt's laps, even going so far as to purr. They didn't even stir when Mello burst into the attic, toting a cardboard box and some ragged towels.

Without a word, Mello put the cardboard box down on its side and arranged the towels into a sort of nest inside it. Then, sitting down cross-legged across from Ease, he took one of the kittens from Matt and the three children sat together for a long time, just stroking and playing with the kittens.

Finally, Ease spoke. "We'll have to get them food."

She looked up just then, and Mello caught her eye. She had been afraid to look at him, afraid that he would maintain his distant attitude and soon leave again, or worse, somehow push her out of taking care of the kittens and keep them for himself. Instead, when she looked up at him, he gave her a sort of half-smile and a little nod. In that instant, Ease understood that they were friends again.

A/N: Hey, guys. I've decided that in order to keep myself sane over the summer, I will be updating this story fairly regularly. Every Friday. Or at least, you know, that's what I'll be aiming for. Thanks for reading, and please don't forget to review. Check back next Friday for another chapter!


	5. Chapter 5

Escape With Ease

Chapter Five

By Andruindel

lilililili

Taking care of the kittens quickly became a huge part of the trio's lives. They shared the responsibility, not only of feeding, cleaning up after, and otherwise keeping the kittens happy and healthy, but of keeping the secret. No one ever went up to the attic, so they were fairly certain that their little family would be safe from discovery up there, but it grew increasingly harder for them to explain where one, two, or all three of them would periodically disappear to. When they had the time, they would spend hours in the attic together, playing with the kittens, and a strong bond of friendship soon grew between the kittens and the children. Even the little gray-striped one soon learned to stop hissing and clawing at them whenever they tried to touch him.

The fact that L was back at the orphanage presented quite a problem. For the first week, nothing went amiss. The trio would find the time to check up on the kittens several times a day, making sure they had water in the little bowl they'd swiped and bringing them scraps from the kitchen. But soon, they could tell that L and Roger were becoming suspicious.

They held a secret meeting in the middle of the next week, meeting up just before nine o'clock, when they needed to be in their rooms for the night. Taking advantage of the fact that many people were already in their rooms for the night, they slipped into the library, where only a few of the older children were still reading or studying in the huge armchairs placed around the room. They slipped inside and made their way to a remote corner where they would not be immediately visible from the doorway.

"L's starting to snoop around." Ease got straight to the point. She had taken her responsibility for the kittens to heart, and she knew that if L or Roger discovered them they would be forced to get rid of them. Pets were strictly forbidden, and they were blatantly breaking the rules by keeping the kittens.

Matt looked to Mello, who did most of the talking. "So has Roger. I think they suspect we're up to something, but they have no idea what it could be."

"Do they know where we go?" Ease asked. So far she had not noticed either Roger or L taking any great interest in where they spent so much of their time, but it was only a matter of time before they started trying to figure it out.

"I don't think so. We'll have to be careful though. They might start following us." Mello turned to look over his shoulder in that instant, perhaps as a perfunctory response to the subject they were discussing. He instantly froze, and, seeing his expression, Ease and Matt both looked up.

They froze as well. Ease felt her heart leap into her throat.

Looming out of a shadowy aisle of books, L looked like some sort of supernatural being. His eyes bugged out of his pale face like a fish's, and his expression was as blank as it had been that day when he had spoken to Ease. He stepped forward, hunched and with his hands in his pockets. Ease, Matt, and Mello all gulped.

"Oh, we're already following you."

They were caught.

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There was nothing the three of them could do. Guilty and a little bit ashamed, they led L up to the attic, where the kittens all began mewing a soon as they stepped into the dusty space under the roof. He looked on with wide, oddly inexpressive eyes as the three children went to the kittens and each plucked one from the nest of blankets they had all been curled in only seconds before. Each of the children looked up at him, each holding a kitten—Matt was holding two—and each unsure what to say. They all knew there was no way they could argue their case. If they were allowed to keep the kittens, Roger would have to allow all the children to keep pets. So they just looked up at L, silently hoping he might tell them they could keep the kittens, but knowing there was no way it could possibly happen.

After a few quiet moments, the man issued a deep sigh. "Pets are expressly against the rules..." He said softly. As though on impulse, he reached out with both hands and plucked the gray-striped kitten from Matt's arms. "They're cute, and I don't doubt you were just trying to help them, but we'll have to get rid of them."

Ease had known that would be L's decision. He had to back the rules or else the orphanage would devolve into chaos. But as she looked down at the kitten in her arms, she felt her throat tighten against the tears she refused to shed in front of L. She buried her face in the kitten's fur, wishing there was some way she could keep it, but there was no way. L explained calmly and quietly that the next day they would pack the kittens into a box, take them into town, and try to find them good homes. If they couldn't find them homes by the evening, they would have to give them to the local shelter. They would be given a free day to complete the task.

"Yes, L..." The three children murmured sullenly.

Ease knew that Mello and Matt both had nothing but respect for the detective, but as she glanced at them she saw that they were deeply resentful of his position of authority at the moment. She herself felt only sadness. For a brief time she had felt close to Mello and Matt, closer than she had since coming to the orphanage. They had formed a bond that week, working together to care for the kittens and keep the secret, and without the kittens, she was afraid they would fall back to fighting and squabbling. The kittens had drawn them together in a way nothing else could have, and as she looked at her two friends, she found herself desperately hoping they would remain close after the kittens were gone.

They were all dismally quiet as they left the attic and tromped off to their rooms. Ease left Mello and Matt just outside their room with a sullen goodnight, continuing on her way to her own empty room. Though she knew she would need to be up bright and early the next morning to go into town, she stayed awake for a long time that night, crying for the loss of her kittens and for her fears of broken and fading friendships.

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The next morning, the children left right after breakfast. The others barely even noticed that they weren't going to class, which Ease was grateful for. She wasn't in any mood to face the questions of the other orphans. They would want to see the kittens, and each of them would want to beg Roger and L to allow them to keep one. It was best that no one ever knew the kittens had been in the building at all. Ease, Mello, and Matt all met at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the attic. They looked at one another, none of them wanting to be the first to go up to the attic and collect the kittens.

Finally, Matt went up to the attic alone. He returned with the kittens packed into their cardboard box, protesting at the treatment. Ease felt her throat grow tight again as she listened to the kittens mewing and scratching inside the box.

"Let's just go." She snapped, turning and fleeing down the hall, trying to get away from the sound of the kittens crying.

The walk into town was one of the worst walks Ease had ever taken. It was worse than all the times she had walked to her mother's home from school. It beat the time she had walked home alone on her birthday because her parents had neglected to pick her up. The kittens continued to cry inside the box as Matt carried it, trying not to jostle them too much. Ease wanted to cry along with them, and try as she might, she couldn't stop herself from sniffling a few times. Otherwise, none of them said a word. What was there to say? They should have known they couldn't keep the kittens for long.

When they got into town, Ease finally turned to the other boys. "Where should we go?"

"I don't care." Mello snarled. He looked uncomfortably hot in his customary black outfit, and he was scowling fiercely under his mop of yellow hair.

Looking to Matt in despair, Ease lifted both hands in a sign of ignorance and defeat.

"Grocery store?" Matt suggested, shifting the box slightly in his arms. The kittens protested adamantly.

When no other suggestions were made, Ease agreed, and they turned their path toward the grocery store.

They set up outside the store, propping up piece of cardboard that Ease had hastily scrawled a message on that morning.

**Free kittens**

They attracted immediate attention. Three children, one with orange goggles hiding his eyes, one wearing all black, and one dressed in shabby jeans and a tank-top, none of them over thirteen, were sure to draw the eyes of passersby. When you added the tall, cardboard box and the sign into the mix, they had an interested customer almost as soon as they had put the box down.

"Whatcha got there?" A tall woman approached, seemingly not seeing the sign.

Ease bent and lifted one of the kittens from the box. "Kittens." She said, flashing her brightest smile at the woman. "Free to a good home."

The woman took one look at the kitten blinking and mewing in Ease's hands and turned on her heel to stalk into the store.

With a heavy sigh, Ease put the kitten back, and the three settled down for a long, long day.

Each time a customer drew near, Ease would put on her brightest, happiest smile and attempt giving away one of the kittens. She tried extra hard if it was a mother or couple with children.

"Free kittens!" She said, again and again. "Free to a good home!"

Gradually, she began losing hope. No one seemed to want their kittens. Plenty of people stopped. Women cooed over the kittens, children begged their parents to get them a kitten, but ultimately, no one seemed to want to commit to the reality of bringing a kitten home and caring for it. They were cute, people were quick to point that out, but the minute they started thinking about how much work went into taking care of a kitten, they backed out. Each time this happened Ease would put the kitten back into the box and sit down beside Matt, feeling more and more dejected with each failed bartering.

Matt and Mello said very little. They attempted to help Ease bring in customers, but in general the shoppers seemed more inclined to listen to a little girl trying to find her pets a good home than they were to listen to a pair of rag-tag little boys trying to do the same thing. No one paid attention to two boys, but Ease found them much more willing to listen to her as she spun the story of how she had found the kittens by chance and taken them in out of the infinite goodness of her heart.

Even still, no one wanted the kittens. The day wore on, and with each shopper that passed them by or decided not to take a kitten, Ease and the boys grew more and more sullen. They sat huddled together beside the box, Ease resting against Matt and Mello carelessly draped across both their laps. It had been a long time since their last interested shopper, and Ease was just about to give up.

Suddenly, someone approached. Ease shot to her feet, staring up at the young couple with almost tearful hope in her eyes. "Free kittens?" She said, half questioningly. She was almost too afraid to hope that they were going to take one.

The couple cooed over the kittens for a while, showing special interest in the little gray-striped one.

"We just got our own place," The woman explained, gazing up at her man with an adoring look on her face. Then she turned back to the gray-striped kitten, cuddling him close in a way that made Ease want to snatch him back and scream that they couldn't have any of the kittens. "A cat is just what we need to make it feel like home."

"Free to a good home," Mello piped up from where he lurked at Ease's shoulder. He seemed to sense the couple wavering, and he urged them desperately. "Cats are great company, and they're already practically house trained."

Even Matt got in on it, standing at Ease's elbow and looking up at the couple with a tiny smile. "That one's special. Loyal as a dog."

The three children gazed up at the couple, watching them waver. They drew away for a moment to discuss, and Ease watched as the woman held the kitten up for the man to look at more closely. She seemed to be appealing to him with the kitten's cuteness, and for a moment it seemed to be working. The couple wavered, caught for a moment in the balance between taking home a new pet and leaving the store with just their groceries, and then they toppled. Ease felt her heart drop.

"I'm sorry, darling," The woman said, carefully transferring the kitten back to Ease's hands. "We just can't afford to take care of a kitten right now. Good luck finding them a home."

Ease almost forgot to thank them at least for the kind well wishes. It was already almost evening. Stores would be closing soon, and the shelter would be closed before they could get there unless they hurried.

"I guess that's it, then." Mello said stiffly. "Come on."

Matt hefted the box with the mewing kittens inside, and the three children set off with heavy steps to the shelter. None of them said a word, too caught up in their own thoughts to offer any sort of comfort to one another. When they stepped into the shelter, Ease hesitated in the door, staring at the woman at the front desk with huge eyes. Her heart beat faster, and for a moment she considered snatching the box from Matt's hands and running. She didn't know where she would go or what she would do, but running away with the kittens seemed a lot better than leaving them here.

The moment passed when Mello pushed her through the door impatiently. "What are you waiting for?" He growled under his breath. He looked nervous and uncomfortable, the opposite of Matt, who just looked quietly sad.

The lady at the desk had been watching them curiously while they stood just inside the door. Knowing that neither of her friends would want to do it, Ease stepped up to the counter and, after taking a deep, shaky breath, spoke.

"We need to leave these kittens here... We can't keep them, and we want them to get adopted."

At her cue, Matt stepped forward and let the woman look into the box. She looked at the kittens laying pitiably in the nest of blankets, and her face softened. "We'll be able to take them. We'll do our best to find them a good home."

"Good." Ease swallowed, choking down the tears that were threatening to flow. "They're good cats, I know people will love them. Please take care of them." Knowing that if she stayed any longer she would never be able to leave the kittens behind, she spun on her heel and stalked outside. Mello and Matt followed quietly, closing in on either side of her, and so the three walked back to the orphanage together, kitten-less and despondent.

Just outside the orphanage, Ease jumped at the feeling of Matt's gloved hand sliding into her own. She looked up at him, but he was gazing steadily at the ground in front of him. He gave her hand a quick squeeze, and just as Mello was pushing open the huge, wrought-iron gate, he pulled on her hand to get her to stop beside him.

"I'm sure the kittens will be fine." He said softly. "They're too awesome not to get adopted."

Ease shrugged, but she appreciated Matt's efforts to comfort her. He quickly pulled her into a hug, and she buried her face in his shirt, sniffing back the tears she had been fighting against since leaving the kittens behind. He held her close for a brief moment, running a hand down the back of her head in a comforting gesture, and then Mello snorted, bringing them apart. The blond gave them both a vaguely disgusted look, practicing that sneer he had been working on that conveyed a sense of faint disdain and overt disapproval. Ease stepped away from Matt, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and lowering her eyes, covertly passing a hand over her eyes to wipe away any trace of tears. Matt left her side, following Mello across the lawn. L and Roger were waiting for them near the orphanage.

"You'll be fine." Mello called back to her over his shoulder, and Ease had to smile through the tears she could not longer hold back. In his own way, even Mello had offered some form of comfort.

She was left to make her own way back to the orphanage, trailing behind Mello and Matt as they rushed to greet L. They still adored him, even after he'd made them give away their pets. Ease, on the other hand, felt only a deep resentment in the pit of her stomach when she looked up at L.

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A/N: Weekly update time! It took me a while to finish this chapter. It's taken some time for me to get used to writing regularly again, especially when I've actually got an updating schedule that I made for myself. Please keep expecting updates every Friday. I'd do it more, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up. A chapter a week is about as much as I can do. Anyway, thanks for reading, please review, blah blah, more author-y stuff.


	6. Chapter 6

Escape With Ease

Chapter Six

By Andruindel

lilililili

Ease's resentment of L did not lessen, even when he left the orphanage again shortly after making Ease, Mello, and Matt give up their litter of kittens. Though she was relieved to see him go, she did not resent him any less than she had the day she'd walked back from the animal shelter without the kittens and cried herself to sleep with no one to comfort her. L left the very next day after this, which caused a huge amount of disappointment among the children, especially Mello, Matt, and Near. The young man was working a very serious case, apparently, but Ease couldn't have cared less _why _he was leaving, just so long as he went away and stopped interfering with her life. He had been at the orphanage no more than a week, yet in that short time he had managed to break her heart more thoroughly than it had been broken since the death of her father. To say she was relieved to see him go was an understatement, but she withheld her emotions for the sakes of her two friends, who moped around the orphanage for days after his departure.

A few days after L left, Ease wandered down into the game room, hoping to find either Matt or Mello. She hadn't seen much of either of them for a day or so, and she wondered if she might lure the two of them into walking into town with her, if they could get permission that is. She had tried occupying her mind with homework, and when that hadn't worked, with a book. When even her beloved—if small—collection of books had failed to distract her, she had decided she didn't want to spend her Saturday cooped up indoors. So off to the game room she went, in search of the only two people whose company she could possibly have tolerated.

Instead of finding her friends, as she had hoped, she saw that a few children were in the room playing board games, while the white-haired boy Near sat in one corner with a jigsaw puzzle, as usual. Though she wasn't exactly curious, Ease wandered toward the younger boy, knowing that if anyone would know Mello and Matt's whereabouts, it was Near. The boy, a year or so younger than the trio, knew almost everything there was to know about the other orphans and the building they all called home. That was why he was L's first-in-line-successor, before even Mello and Matt, who were both geniuses in their own right. Feeling the now familiar sense of resentment that curled in her belly whenever she thought of the dark-haired detective, Ease stopped a pace or two away from Near, looking down at him.

Near was an odd boy, one whom Ease had not had much occasion to speak to—or even pay attention to. Unassuming and quiet, he seemed to go out of his way to avoid drawing attention to himself. Ease certainly rarely noticed him, unless it was to mock him with Mello and Matt, who seemed to enjoy making sport of the younger boy. Still, the two were on friendly enough terms, and Ease watched him working at the puzzle, twisting a lock of pure-white hair between his fingers, for a few moments before interrupting.

"Do you know where Mello and Matt are?"

Near did not reply for several seconds. He very slowly lifted a piece of the puzzle and fit it into the frame-work he had constructed before answering, without even lifting his eyes from his work. "I haven't seen them at all today. I assume they're still in their room."

Ease found the way he wouldn't even look at her extremely irritating. It was almost worse than the way L had looked at her after introducing himself. As she looked down at the boy for another short while, she noticed that the way he sat, the way he twirled his hair, even the way he dressed all reminded her of L. The urge to kick him—or at least kick his puzzle to bits—pricked her, but she resisted and simply turned to leave the game room. There was no need to cause trouble, especially not right after she had gotten her two friends into trouble for keeping pets. Just getting permission to go into town would be a long-shot, she didn't need Near complaining about her and getting her into even more trouble.

She didn't encounter many people as she wended her way toward the boys' dormitories. Most of the other children were in the game room, outside playing, or studying in the library—it was mostly the older children who were studying. She was grateful for the absence of other people, especially some of the other girls, who were constantly pestering her to play hopscotch and jump rope out in the yard. A few of them even had dolls and stuffed animals they played with—Ease found the idea of play-acting with toys repulsive. Give her a good book over the company of giggling girls any day.

When she stopped outside the room Mello and Matt shared, she could hear Mello's voice from inside. She considered leaving when she heard how grumpy he sounded, but steeled herself to face his wrath and knocked on the door.

Matt answered promptly. He looked a little surprised to see her, as it was not even noon. "Ease!" He opened the door wider, beckoning her inside. She crossed the threshold rather timidly, having never been invited into their room before. Leaving the door gaping wide open—as was the rule—Matt went back to his bed and picked up the game boy he had apparently tossed aside when he stood to open the door. Mello was laying on his back on his bed, with his legs propped against the wall, heels drumming lightly as though he were impatiently waiting for something or thinking very hard.

Ignoring Mello, Matt plopped down onto his bed, patting the mattress beside him when Ease looked a bit unsure of herself. She gratefully accepted the invitation, glancing at the screen of his game boy to see which game he was playing out of habit. Then she smiled up at Matt, who wasn't wearing his goggles for once. It was rare for her to see him without them, so she took the chance to study his face for a moment, noting how blue his eyes were and how sleepy he looked. He must have been up late playing games again.

Then she turned to Mello. "Mello, let's go into town."

The blond rolled over immediately, looking at Ease with narrowed eyes. "Why?" He sounded a bit suspicious.

Widening her eyes a bit, Ease looked at Mello with an expression of hurt innocence. "Why not?" She shrugged. "I've got some money saved up. We could get ice cream, or see a movie, something to get us out of here."

Ever reluctant to please, Mello rolled back onto his back, scowling. "It's hot out." He said shortly.

Ease blew a resigned sigh. This was a familiar game. "It's not that hot out. We can be in shops all day."

"Will Roger even let us go out?"

Shifting, Ease admitted that she hadn't yet asked for permission. She had been hoping that Mello and Matt could help her convince Roger to let them go into town. The two boys were clearly in L's favor, if they were his second and third successors, which meant that they were in Roger's favor by default. Ease fully intended to exploit this in order to get permission to go out, but it would only work if they cooperated. She turned to look at Matt, who didn't seem all that interested in the proceedings.

"You want to go out, right Matt?" Ease asked, tugging on his sleeve earnestly.

Mello snorted, and then coughed violently for several minutes, flipping back over as he coughed and struggled valiantly to get his breath back. Ease looked on with one eyebrow arched curiously at her blond friend, but neither she nor Matt moved to help him. When he had gotten his breath back, he was laughing. "Of course _Matt_ wants to go." He said.

Noting his emphasis on Matt's name, Ease looked back up at the gamer. He was glaring hard out the window, so she couldn't see his face. Without looking at either of them, he pulled his goggles up to cover his eyes. "Shut up, Mello." He said in such a calm manner that Ease instantly chalked Mello's attitude up to him being pissy, as usual. There was nothing unusual about Mello being vindictive for no reason and with nothing real to mock. He made stuff up as often as not, just so he would have something to make fun of or complain about.

Rolling her eyes, Ease took to her feet again. "So do you want to come or not?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips and looking down at Mello where he had taken up his position on his back, heels again drumming against the wall.

"No." He said decisively.

Turning, Ease caught Matt's eye. "Matt?" She desperately hoped he would say yes, though she tried her hardest not to let it show. She didn't like Matt and Mello knowing just how much she depended on them—they were her only friends, after all, the only people she could tolerate and whose company she had actually learned to enjoy.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Matt nodded and stood as well. "Sure, why not." He muttered, carefully avoiding looking at Mello who had adopted a very smug look. Ease hardly noticed; Mello always looked smug.

Smiling, Ease hooked her arm through Matt's, pulling him out the door. She cast a triumphant look back at Mello as she left. It wasn't often that she could convince Matt to go outside, let alone into town, and without Mello at that! Feeling very proud of herself, and happy to have Matt's attention only on her, instead of split between her and Mello, Ease tugged Matt along the hallways to Roger's office. She hoped he would give them permission. Her whole Saturday would be ruined if he didn't.

He was reluctant to give them permission at first, as Ease had predicted. Her latest misconduct—just the latest in a long line of disagreements, differences of opinion, and just plain disobedience—had earned her yet another black mark with Roger. If she hadn't been one of the best students in the orphanage—and also one of the wealthiest—she would have been afraid Roger would start treating her badly, or even find her another orphanage altogether. Instead, he seemed to be going a different direction, and after begrudgingly giving her permission to go into town for a few hours—they must be home before two, or else!—he informed her that he had arranged several interviews for her with couples interested in adopting a child.

Ease left his office with the future interviews looming over her like some great, black cloud of foreboding. She almost canceled her outing to go back to her room and pout, or worry obsessively, but Matt didn't let her. He seemed dead-set on going into town now that Ease had gotten him to agree to the outing, and Ease tried her best to forget that she would soon be sitting down with several different couples, all of whom were looking to adopt a girl her age.

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Ease chatted at Matt as they walked into town, mostly to distract herself from the sick feeling resting in her stomach, but also in an attempt to get Matt to say something. In the year and some months that she had known the gamer, Ease had gotten to know him very well. He was a quiet sort of boy, who rarely spoke unless he needed to—he was perfectly content letting Mello make decisions while he played on his game boy. It was very rare for him to go outside, and especially rare for him to go somewhere without Mello; Ease knew that Mello was clearly the leader of the pair, while Matt obediently did pretty much whatever Mello said. Still, he could be very stubborn when the mood took him, and Ease had seen him stand up to Mello a few times.

She knew he wasn't likely to say much while she chatted at him. He just listened quietly until she finally fell silent. Ease wasn't much of a talker either, but she had been hoping to hold an actual conversation with Matt for once. They didn't talk until Ease had led them into an ice cream parlor and bought both of them some ice cream. The older girl behind the counter smiled hugely at them when they went to the register to pay. Ease didn't like the way she looked at them, so she led Matt outside again as soon as possible.

The two of them found an empty table outside and sat down with their ice cream. For a moment they were quiet as they focused on the rapidly melting treat, but once he had gotten his ice cream under control, Matt spoke up, surprising Ease.

"Are you looking forward to the interviews this week?"

Ease looked up at him swiftly, trying to decide whether or not he was serious. When he just looked at her with his serious blue gaze, she dropped her eyes to her ice cream again and shrugged. "I don't care." She said shortly. "I don't want to talk about this."

Matt instantly changed the topic, and Ease relaxed as he told her all about L. The old boy had been gone most of the time Ease had been at Wammy's house. He was a very busy person. He _was _the three best detectives in the world, after all. Ease listened as Matt told her all about cases L had worked in the past, and her interest was piqued despite herself when Matt started talking about the case he was working right then.

"This Kira guy's bad news." Matt stated matter-of-factly. Ease had never heard him speak at such length about something. Even his beloved video games didn't get this volume of conversation out of him. He was usually so quiet she had to work to get any words out of him at all. It was a little nice, she had to admit, to hear him talk so much. She looked at him as he spoke, watching his eyes wander from his ice cream to her face to the table and back again. He wouldn't meet her eyes for very long, but she was more than happy to let him stare at the table while he spoke. It gave her the chance to look at him without worrying he would notice.

A long time passed before Matt tired of talking about L's latest case. He didn't know all the details, obviously, but he and Mello had begun following it since L's brief visit, so he knew as much as the media did. He bragged about L as though he were an older brother, and Ease listened with a mixture of resentment toward L and fondness toward Matt, who seemed to genuinely adore the older man, just as Mello and Near did (though Mello would never have admitted it).

It was nearly two o'clock before either of them realized it, and when Ease checked her watch, she jumped to her feet. "We have to be back in twenty minutes!" She cried, swiftly scooping up her trash and Matt's and dumping it in the nearest trash can. "Come on, we'd better hurry."

Walking side-by-side, the two children rushed back to the orphanage. Neither of them wanted to be late, knowing that it would result in some form of punishment. They arrived back at the iron gate with just a few minutes to spare. Ease breathed a sigh of relief and turned to smile up at Matt.

Matt touched her shoulder. "I'm gonna go see what Mello's up to. Don't worry about those interviews, you'll do great." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly and then dashed away.

Ease watched him go, her heart sinking down, down into her stomach to mix the depression with the sick feeling. "That's what I'm afraid of." She whispered at Matt's retreating form. "That's what I'm afraid of..."

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A/N: Hey guys, here's the next chapter. I had a bit of a time-line error, as L is supposedly already working the Kira case at this point in time. So for the sake of continuity, let's just say visited Wammy's house in order to meet the new girl (I guess to see whether she's worth being a successor?) and to get Roger's input on the case. I'm a little bit more on track with the time-line now, so hopefully there won't be any more glaring errors like that. Thanks for reading, I'll get the next chapter up by Friday :D Don't forget to review!


	7. Chapter 7

Escape With Ease

Chapter Seven

By Andruindel

Ease took a deep breath. She was shaking, her palms were sweaty, and her heart was beating so quickly and loudly she felt sure Roger must be able to hear it from where he stood at her side. She stood rigidly beside the man, her back straight, her chin up, trying to look more confident than she was feeling. He had insisted she wear something nice for the interviews, and so today she had put on a dress and brushed her hair until it was smooth and shiny. She hadn't thought she'd be able to get away with not attempting to look nice. Roger wouldn't have stood for it.

This was the first of five interviews Roger had scheduled for her that week. He was trying very hard to get her out of the orphanage, and when Ease thought about it, she really couldn't blame him. She had caused nothing but trouble since arriving, she thought as a wry smile twisted her lips. She was hardly worse than Mello though, who threw frequent tantrums and who had been equally to blame for his involvement in the situation with the kittens.

Swallowing, Ease stepped forward when Roger opened the door to one of the rooms they had ready for children and couples to meet one another. The couple were already there; the man stood up as Ease and Roger entered while the woman turned in her chair, and both of them looked at Ease with interest. Ease immediately felt sick again, but she had to keep walking or else her knees would have given out on her. She stepped into the room and automatically shook the man's hand as he offered it, looking from him to the woman she assumed was his wife. For a moment she was too caught up examining the two potential parents that she forgot to feel sick.

The man was tall and broad, with a buzzed head, bulging arm muscles, and a bit of a meat-head expression. The woman was small, thin, with mousy hair much like Ease's and a vague face that reminded the girl of a cow. Not an appealing couple, Ease thought as she automatically took her seat across from the two people and sat with her hands twisting nervously in her lap and her eyes focused unerringly on the floor.

The interview spiraled downhill from there. Ease refused to answer any of their questions in more than one or two clipped words. How old was she? Thirteen. What did she like to do? Read. Did she like pets? Yes. The couple could get no more than this out of her, and eventually they left in an exasperated state. Ease listened to Roger apologizing for her uncooperative attitude, assuring them that she was not usually that sullen and perhaps they'd like to come see her again to give her a chance to warm up. She felt a little numb, as though the last twenty minutes hadn't happened. She could hardly remember what she had said to them or what they had asked her. All she knew was that she did not—absolutely did not—want to be adopted. There was no need for it. She had a comfortable life at Wammy's house, and friends for the first time since she could remember. Not only that, but her parents had died only two years ago. There was no way she could reconcile herself to the idea of new parents yet. If ever.

Roger did not come back after escorting the couple out, and Ease sat in the room for a long time, just staring at the ground and letting her thoughts wander. That's how Mello and Matt found her an hour later, still sitting in the chair, one foot tapping endlessly and one hand lifted to her mouth as she chewed her nails. She didn't look up until Matt took a step into the room, and then she lifted her eyes to his face and gave him a tiny smile.

"How'd it go?"

"They didn't want me." She said softly.

Matt came closer while Mello lurked in the doorway, and the gamer put a hand on Ease's shoulder, looking down at her. "It'll be okay, you've got four more interviews. Who could help wanting you?"

He was trying to comfort her. Ease couldn't help smiling. "It's okay, Matt. Come on, I've got to get to class." She stood up, linking arm's with the gamer and pulling him toward the door. She grabbed Mello as well, and pulled both boys away toward the class they all shared with several other children their age. She didn't want to talk about the interviews. She didn't want to remember that she had to botch four more of them before the week was over, perhaps more if Roger was determined to get rid of her. What she wanted was to distract herself from her trouble by fulfilling her responsibilities and spending time with her two friends. There was no way to guarantee that one of the couples wouldn't see through her act of simplicity and sullen-ness, so she wanted to spend as much time with Matt and Mello as possible.

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The other interviews didn't go much better. The second one Ease didn't speak at all. She simply stared at the couple with as icy a glare as she could muster until they left in a huff, offended that Roger would set up an interview with such an uncooperative little girl.

The third interview Ease did nothing but talk about the games she played. She didn't mention the time she spent doing school—which far outweighed the time she spent playing games with Matt—or the time she spent reading every book she could get her hands on in the library. She made it out as though she did nothing but play games all day, letting her grades suffer. Roger tried to interfere this time, but she talked over him, and the couple left after unsuccessfully trying to get her to stop chattering.

The fourth interview was another interview of stony silence, but this time Ease added in snide remarks. She commented on the woman's out of date hair style and the man's vaguely worn-out looking blazer. She told them she had plenty of other things to be doing rather than sitting in a pointless interview with bland, uninteresting people.

When it finally came to the final interview, Ease was sick of dealing with couples. She entered the room in one of her dresses and with her hair carelessly pulled into a loose ponytail, her face blank and her expression sullen. She was fully prepared to sit back and ignore this couple before she looked up and saw them. Her breath caught in her throat and for a brief moment she thought she was looking at her own parents again. Then she pulled herself together and realized that it was just a couple that looked surprisingly similar to her own parents.

The man was tall and had a kind face. At the moment he looked a bit concerned, as she had stopped just inside the doorway and was staring at them aghast. The woman was small and mousy, with a plump figure and a tight face made perfectly for sneering and complaining. Ease glanced once at her before turning to stare at the man again. Though she could now see that he was different from her father, the brief moment of fantastic belief that she had been looking at her father had been enough.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she turned on her heel to flee. Without so much as an explanation, she ran, past Roger, past a blur of yellow and black that might have been Mello, and out the front door of the orphanage. She ran all the way across the grounds, past the bench she would normally have fled to and into a corner of the grounds where she could hide. A pair of shrubs grew near the fence in that corner, but Ease knew that under the shrubs was a hollow space, perfect for hiding in. No one would be able to see her from any distance away. She was fairly certain no one was looking for her anyway.

Hurling herself to the ground, she crawled under the bushes, blinded by the mist of tears that had risen before her eyes. Once inside the little hide-away, she curled into a ball in the dirt and cried. She cried for her father, dead and gone somewhere she couldn't follow him. She cried for herself, a little girl with no family who was alone in the world save for two boys who were her—rather irritating—friends. She even cried for the time she had spent bouncing from one house to another during the divorce, feeling as though she were just a piece of property to be transferred from one owner to the other as the whim struck them. She hadn't cried about that since before her father's death.

She very suddenly stopped crying, freezing, instantly alert. A soft rustle in the leaves caused her to sit up and look around, wondering whether there were more kittens in this bush. Instead of kittens, the blond head of a certain genius pushed through the branches and she realized that Mello was intruding. How very like him, to invade her solitude and intrude on her grief.

"Go away, Mello!" She screamed at him, nearly hitting him as he pushed his way into her hide-out. She wanted to hit him when she saw his face, so smug and superior. Her thoughts snagged on the idea that she just wanted Mello to leave her alone, and she screamed at him to go away again, turning her back on him, fully intent on ignoring his presence until he left.

Surprisingly calmly, Mello worked his way further into the hide-away and put his arm around her. He didn't say a word, not even when Ease tried to push him away. He just held onto her while she struggled until finally she gave in. Struggling took far too much effort, and all she wanted to do was be alone with her memories and her sadness. If she couldn't make Mello go away, she could ignore him at least. Unconsciously leaning into his arms, she buried her face in her arms and quietly continued crying. It was no use pretending she was not crying; Mello had already seen the evidence on her face when and in her voice when she screamed at him.

Still Mello didn't speak, and Ease finally quieted and realized the odd situation she was in. She sat up and away from Mello, glaring at him through puffy, red eyes. "Why aren't you laughing at me?" She demanded to know. The blond was being uncharacteristically silent, and it she was finally suspicious.

He looked a bit offended, but Ease could tell as he spoke that he was being sarcastic to save face. "Ease, we've been friends for over a year, do you really think I'd see you running away and not come check on you?"

"Yes." Ease said shortly, for that was exactly what Mello had done on many occasions.

He grinned wickedly. "Well, maybe Matt put me up to it. And now I have to ask you: Why were you crying?"

Ease didn't really want to tell Mello. Now that the crying had stopped, she was feeling foolish. She lowered her eyes and scrubbed distractedly at her face, avoiding answering the question. Finally, she just mumbled: "I don't want to get adopted."

Mello surprised her with another uncharacteristic show of affection, wrapping his arm around her again and squeezing lightly. She looked up at him in slight shock; he had never shown any sort of affection for her, and she had never felt inclined to do so toward him either. She knew that somewhere, deep down, they were really friends, but she had never felt more certain than she felt right now that Mello really did care for her, on some level.

"It's hard on all of us." Mello said quietly. "when someone gets adopted, I mean. Trust me, if you got adopted me, Matt and the others would all just hate you anyway. It's probably best if you stay right here, sad and alone like the rest of us."

That was more like Mello.

Shoving him, Ease rubbed her eyes again and finally felt better. She started to crawl out of the bush, playfully shoving Mello out of her way so that she could go first.

"What, not afraid I'll be staring at you?" He asked from behind her, and she managed a laugh.

They were back to their old jokes again, she saw. No doubt Mello would deny he had ever sought her out to comfort her, but she knew that he had done it, and that was all that mattered. Somehow, indescribably, she felt as though their relationship had shifted a touch. He was the one who had sought her out, instead of sending for Matt as he usually did. That meant something to her, just as it had meant something when he and Matt had fought to get her book back.

It was nice to have friends, she thought. Nice to have someone who would hold her while she cried. Nice to have someone who didn't pry into her affairs and question her past.

The last thing she needed was someone questioning her past.

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A/N: Hey, sorry for the thrown together ending there... I had some computer trouble this week, so I didn't get to write much and didn't finish this chapter until... just now, really. But, thanks for reading, hope you liked it, and... uh, review, please? I'll update again next week.


	8. Chapter 8

Escape With Ease

Chapter Eight

By Andruindel

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After that week of botched interviews, Roger seemed to give up on getting rid of Ease. She was once again free to focus on her studies and her steadily developing friendships with Matt and Mello. Things had been awkward between her and the temperamental blond since the day he had comforted her, but somehow Ease felt that things had also suddenly become easier. With Mello now proven beyond a doubt to be a true friend, Ease and Matt found it a lot easier to get time to themselves. Mello no longer seemed to care when they spent time together—his jealousy appeared to have been soothed by Ease's frequent attempts to repair the awkwardness.

The trio spent more time together than ever. Ease felt that she could spend time with either of the boys without worrying too much that one of them would be jealous. Of course, Mello retained his attitude—his insufferable arrogance and general unpleasant personality. He continued pushing Ease's buttons in the most infuriating way, taunting her for spending so much time reading, teasing her about her figure, and generally being an ass. Ease, of course, gave back as good as she got. Their squabbling could often be heard from the game room as they fought over the rules of various board games or the semantics of some issue or another.

All in all, they were a very happy trio of children, now made all the happier by the fact that Ease's position at Wammy's House was no longer threatened by the possibility of being adopted. Ease was certainly happier for not having to worry that a strange couple would insist on taking her away, insist on making her call them mother and father, insist on forcing her into their image of what an ideal family should look like.

Her parents were dead. There was no replacing them.

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She woke one morning, months and months after that hateful week of interviews, to realize with a start that it was her birthday. She had been at Wammy's House for more than two years—two birthdays, at least. It was nearly three years since her parents had died, leaving her to find her own way in the world with nothing but a weekly allowance and the hard lessons she had learned from the divorce and the deaths. Her birthday had ceased to be a happy occasion three years ago, so rather than jump out of bed cheerfully with the expectation of gifts and attention, she sluggishly pulled the covers back over her head for another ten minutes of rest before she absolutely needed to be up.

She knew that no one besides Roger, Mello, and Matt knew that her birthday was today. Roger usually tried to make each orphan's birthday special with a little cake by their plate at breakfast, but Ease had insisted—nearly begged—that he do nothing special for her on her birthday. Mello and Matt wouldn't do much for her either, she knew. Neither of them had much money. If she wanted anything special that day she would have to do or buy it herself.

Giving up on the idea of another few minutes of sleep, she fitfully tossed the covers off and slimed her way out of the bed to the floor, where she lay for a moment, her cheek pressed against the carpet, looking at the collection of dust bunnies under her bed. With an intense effort, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees and—taking a moment to stuff Rufus, her stuffed bear, under the bed—pulled herself to her feet to stand swaying slightly. She went about her morning routine painfully slowly, taking her time in the shower and then carelessly throwing on the first shirt and jeans that her fingers touched. Without even bothering to glance in the mirror, she stepped out of her bedroom in a pair of baggy jeans and a tank-top, an outfit far below her usual standard.

Almost the instant she stepped out into the corridor, Mello and Matt fell into step beside her.

"Morning Ease." Matt said casually.

"Trying to hide your curves again, I see." Mello only half-sneered at her, glancing meaningfully at the baggy pants.

Almost—but not quite—wishing they hadn't chosen to be quite so cheerful this morning, Ease sighed. "Good morning, Matt. Mello. Had breakfast yet?"

The two boys laughed, and Ease managed to chuckle, at the idea that Mello and Matt had somehow managed to not only be up and dressed before Ease but had already eaten something as well. It was a feat in and of itself for the two boys to be walking down the hallway with her toward the main dining room at a reasonable time, instead of rushing to the kitchen at the last minute to scarf down some bread and milk before rushing off to class. Ease was vaguely curious as to why they were awake and accompanying her to breakfast—walking on either side of her and grinning, no less. But she couldn't be bothered to investigate, and she let it go in favor of silently brooding to herself, arms crossed in an attempt to ward off conversation.

It didn't work.

Both boys were being unusually chatty this morning. Even Matt said more than a few words here and there, giving Ease enough reason to look curiously at him and wonder why he was being so talkative for once in his life.

When she couldn't ignore their uncharacteristic chattering any more, she looked up at Matt again. "What's wrong with you two?"

Matt smiled and Mello smirked, and Ease felt suddenly as though they were up to some mischief. Fortunately, they were very forthcoming with information about said mischief.

"Roger's going to be gone tonight." Mello said in a very matter-of-fact tone. He sounded as though he thought Ease ought to know right away what this meant, and when she looked at him and shrugged, he sighed dramatically. "He doesn't go away often. Clearly, he's never been gone the whole time you've been here. But when he does, the older kids get together in the game room and all hang out. We're the older kids now." He smirked in a very self-satisfied manner, and Ease thought she may have gotten his meaning. She glanced at Matt to make sure, and he too was smirking in a way she'd never seen him smirk before.

Looking from one to the other, Ease felt herself get a bit excited despite herself. "What are we going to do?" She wanted to know. She could sense that Mello and Matt had a lot planned, and if Roger was not going to be around then she was willing to bet whatever they had planned would be a lot of mischief and shenanigans of the variety they couldn't get away with when Roger was present. A little uneasy, she went down to breakfast with her two friends, both of whom still refused to tell her exactly what they had planned.

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Mello and Matt's mischief couldn't be put into motion until later that night. After dinner, when most of the younger kids had already gone up to their rooms to do homework or prepare for bed, a group of older kids gathered in the game room. Apparently it was general knowledge that when Roger went away, the older kids participated in some highly questionable pastimes. Ease could understand this mind-set. Roger maintained a very strict set of rules and regulations at the orphanage. Everyone must be in bed by nine o'clock, and even the older kids had to be in bed with lights out no later than midnight (they were given some lee-way to finish the progressively bigger amounts of homework). All children must be polite, on time to their studies, never turn in any late assignments, and of course, there was the infamous "no pets" rule that Ease still deeply resented. It made sense that Roger's absence would lead to the older children abusing their freedom a bit.

Ease followed the two boys into the game room after dinner, still vaguely curious what they would be getting into. She couldn't summon more than a passing interest in the matter, as she would rather have gone straight to bed after dinner and finished her moping in peace and quiet. Mello and Matt had refused to leave her alone however, a fact she had not failed to notice and wonder about. Now she walked between the two boys again, and they entered the game room together to find that several of the other kids had already gathered there.

One of the older boys, a boy who was already nearly old enough to strike out into the world on his own, stood up as they entered. "Hey, come on in, we're just about to start a game of seven minutes in heaven."

Ease faltered at that. She paused in the doorway long enough to look around. Someone, most likely one of the older kids, had managed to sneak some beer into the orphanage. Ease didn't even want to question where they had gotten it, nor did she want to drink it. She was by no means a typical "goodie goodie" but the idea of drinking and doing stupid things while Roger was out didn't appeal to her. She hesitated for a moment, watching as Mello and Matt made themselves comfortable in the room, Mello lounging in one of the arm-chairs and Matt making himself comfortable at Mello's feet. Mello instantly accepted and took a swig from the bottle someone passed to him, and Ease caught the challenge in his eyes as he glanced in her direction. Straightening her shoulders, she marched into the room and sat down beside Matt, legs crossed Indian style and deeply uncomfortable but trying not to show it.

The game started once everyone had arrived in the game room. Ease managed to avoid the booze being passed around, but she couldn't avoid the game without everyone thinking she was some sort of wimp. The last thing she wanted was Mello making fun of her for wimping out and going to bed instead of playing along with the other delinquents. So she watched, uneasily twirling a lock of hair, as the older kids figured out a way of choosing two people to go into the closet where they kept the board games.

Ease had never really played a game like this before. She and her little "friends" from school had played truth or dare during slumber parties before, but this game, where she would be caught in a closet with someone for seven minutes to do whatever they wanted (and Ease knew that "whatever they wanted" was encouraged to mean "something sexy and tabboo") gave her a deep sense of disquiet. She didn't want to go into a closet with a boy and be expected to kiss him. The whole idea made her feel a little sick.

When she looked around the room, no one else seemed to be nervous. They were all starting to have a good time, carelessly passing the bottles of booze around and start the game. The names of all the boys were put into a hat someone volunteered, and this hat was passed to one of the older girls. She rummaged inside for a moment and pulled out one of the names.

"Mello." She read, smirking a little bit. She was older than Mello by a year or so, but that didn't seem to bother either of them. Ease shifted aside to let Mello stand up, and she watched as Mello and the older girl were good-naturedly jostled into the closet.

"Seven minutes," The older boy who had first greeted Mello, Matt, and Ease reminded them. "Have fun,"

There was nothing else for Ease to look at once the door had been closed on Mello and his female friend, so she turned to Matt. So far the gamer had said nothing. He'd taken one quick drink from one of the bottles and then settled back against the chair Mello had been sitting in. He didn't look particularly keen to be there—he actually looked quite bored. Leaning against him, Ease allowed herself a moment to wonder if the two of them would be able to get away without anyone noticing or calling them out on it. Matt didn't react when she leaned her head on his shoulder, other than to shift slightly and rest his head against hers. They sat that way while the others all drank, talked, and laughed around them for seven minutes. Ease wondered what Mello was up to in the closet.

When the seven minutes were up, the older boy opened the closet. Mello looked even more satisfied with himself than usual, if that were possible, while the girl just looked quietly amused. They exited the closet to cat-calls and laughter, and the hat was passed to the next girl to choose.

Ease sat up again to let Mello take his seat, and when he had made himself comfortable, she leaned against his legs and looked up at him. "Have fun?" She teased, noting the smear of lipstick that he hadn't noticed on his mouth. She considered telling him about it, but decided against pointing it out.

With that infuriating smirk, Mello shrugged and leaned back in the chair, clearly very pleased with himself. "None of your business, nosy. You're just jealous, because no guy in his right mind would want to kiss you in that closet."

Ease brushed his insult away. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

When the next seven minutes were up, someone shoved the hat at Ease. She barely even looked to see who it was. Shaking, she rummaged in the hat, grasping at the various slips of paper and wondering who on earth she was going to have to go into the closet with. She could feel her heart-rate accelerating, and she was acutely aware of all the pairs of eyes on her, even Mello's on the back of her head. Finally she grasped at a slip of paper and carefully unfolded it, holding her breath.

Her heart gave a leap, and she couldn't help grinning. "Matt." She read aloud, looking up to see how Matt would react.

Instead of looking happy about it, Matt looked fairly expressionless. He always looked expressionless, but there was something very delicately careful about his lack of expression that made Ease's heart pound with anxiety.

"Hurry up then," The older boy said, nudging Ease to her feet while Matt hefted himself up as well. "Seven minutes, go on."

They were shoved into the closet together, and before Ease could even blink the door had been closed behind them and she was left in the darkness beside Matt. She didn't know what to say. She blinked in the darkness, hoping her eyes would adjust, and reached out carefully until her fingers made contact with the fur-lined vest he always wore without fail, even in the summer months.

"Hey..." She said quietly, not knowing what else to do.

"Hi." Matt said back, just as quietly.

And then it was quiet. Ease's heart beat in her ears, while her fingers curled into Matt's vest. She unconsciously pulled him closer, wanting to be near him. The combination of darkness and being in a small space made her heart speed up and her breath come in quick gasps as she struggled to keep herself calm.

"What should we do?" She asked, half to distract herself and half because she really wanted to know. She looked up, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face through the darkness, but she couldn't see much. She felt it when Matt shifted slightly, surprised when he moved away rather than toward her.

"Nothing." He said shortly. Ease pushed out her bottom lip—even though the effect was lost in the darkness—and let go of his vest so that he could freely step away from her. "I don't play games like this." He went on as though to explain himself even though she hadn't asked. "They're just stupid, who wants to make out with some girl in a closet just because everyone else told them to? Besides I'm only here because Mello wants me to be. You understand, I know you're only here because you're too scared to go against Mello."

His words hurt for a reason Ease couldn't quite explain. She flinched back as though he had physically struck her instead of just spoken in a soft, calm tone. For a brief moment she considered slapping him, but the darkness deterred her. Instead, she turned, groped toward the door, turned the knob, and left the closet. Ignoring the protests that it had barely even been two minutes yet, she lifted a hand, middle finger extended, in the general direction of the group of older kids, and stalked out of the room. She didn't even spare a glance toward Mello, irrationally placing all the blame for Matt's hurtful words on the blond, instead of on the gamer.

Rather than go to her room, where she knew only her books and Rufus awaited her, she turned her steps toward the huge main doors and, pushing them open, flung herself down on the front steps. She rested her chin in her hand, not quite pouting, but feeling intensely displeased with how events had progressed on what was supposed to be a fun, Roger-free night. The thought that it was her birthday crossed her mind, but she mainly avoided it. She had stopped expecting fun on her birthday years ago; this was hardly the worst birthday she'd ever had. Her eleventh birthday far surpassed this one in utter horrible-ness. Heaving a heavy sigh, she closed her eyes and rested her arms on her knees, and her head on her arms, utterly defeated by the horrible day.

When the door creaked open again, she didn't even respond other than to open her eyes and hope that whoever had opened it would see her and go away. The heavy footsteps that approached her said otherwise, and she finally lifted her head to look up at who turned out to be Matt. Her heart gave a little jump, despite her every attempt to keep calm, and she looked away again almost immediately. She didn't want to see him any more than he had wanted to kiss her in the closet.

"Ease." He said her name in an apologetic tone. She tried to ignore him, and when she turned her back to him he just sat down on the steps a little way away from her and said nothing more.

She sat for a long moment, listening intently to him to try and guess what he may be doing. She heard a few clicks, but she couldn't begin to guess what the noise was, and finally she could not stand the silence any more. She turned around.

Matt was sitting quietly on the steps, a lighted cigarette hanging almost lazily from two fingers. As she watched, he lifted it to his lips and took a long drag from it, slowly exhaling the smoke so that it floated up and away. The smell made her want to gag, but she resisted, instead speaking. "I didn't know you smoked."

He glanced sideways at her. "Most people don't."

When she looked at him with raised eyebrows, he shrugged. "I mean, I don't do it often. I can't, with Roger always around. I take advantage of the chances I get, but otherwise I just deal with not being able to. I can stop if it bothers you." He took a moment to push his ever-present goggles up onto his head, giving Ease the rare chance to actually look into his eyes.

She shook her head at his offer to stop, and then carefully turned away again. She couldn't just stop being mad at him, and his words _had _hurt her—she wasn't going to just forget that.

"Ease." He said her name again, and she shivered. "You know we've somehow managed to never have a fight before tonight?"

The way he said it made Ease laugh despite herself. It was true. While she and Mello squabbled and argued all the time, she and Matt rarely, if ever disagreed, and they had never found any occasion to fight.

He proceeded cautiously as though afraid of setting her off again. "You know it's... sort of unnecessary, right?" He carefully put a gloved hand on her forearm and she glanced down at his fingers before turning again to look up at him. "I don't want to fight with you. And I didn't mean to offend you or whatever I did..."

Ease suddenly didn't want to be mad at him any more. She turned to face him fully, taking his hand in hers and looked up into his face. He reached back to put his cigarette out on the step and then he cupped her face gently with that hand, meeting her eyes.

"I don't play those games." He said again. "And I didn't want to kiss you just because someone else told me to."

Breathless, wishing she had had something to drink to lower her inhibitions, she forced herself to say something she never would have dreamed saying on any other night. "No one's telling you to right now."

He looked a bit taken aback as though this was the last thing he had expected her to say. But his look shifted to one of mixed fondness and consternation, and he slowly leaned toward her while she expectantly tipped her face up to meet him. Their lips connected in a short, soft kiss. It was over in seconds. Matt pulled away, and Ease looked up at him, flushed, breathless, thinking with what little mental capacities she had left that she couldn't even remember if she had kissed him back.

"Wow." She said, and inwardly cringed at the cliché of it.

Matt grinned and pulled further away, clearly embarrassed but pleased nonetheless.

What he said next caught her completely off guard. "Happy birthday, Ease."

They sat together for a long time after that. Matt lit up another cigarette, and Ease leaned her head against his shoulder as she had many times in the past. This time though, she rested with her fingers interlocked with his and the soft taste of tobacco still lingering on her lips.

lilililili

A/N: Hey guys, I'm sorry this was late. I got distracted, and I've been having some writer's block. Plus, I was afraid this chapter wouldn't come out right unless I gave it the proper thought and effort. I hope it wasn't too horrible. Thanks for reading, leave some reviews, and I'll update hopefully on schedule this week.


	9. Chapter 9

Escape With Ease

Chapter Nine

By Andruindel

lilililili

Outside the delightfully sheer curtains covering the window, the sun rose the next morning with all its usual fervor and enthusiasm. Ease rose long after the sun had, jumping out of bed with a warmth and energy she had distinctly lacked the previous morning. She threw her curtains open, looking out into the yard where a few early risers were already striking up a game of kickball in one corner of the grounds, then turning around she surveyed her room, realizing with a bit of a shock that she had let her room amass a level of clutter far beyond her usual standards of cleanliness. Feeling overly motivated and ambitious, she dressed and started in tidying up the room.

The first thing she did was get down on her hands and knees beside the bed, as she recalled the colony of dust bunnies she had encountered the morning before. With some care, she pulled the dust bunnies out from under the bed and carelessly tossed them into the dustbin before placing Rufus back in his usual spot beneath the bed. Had she been more inclined toward whimsical pastimes she might have fancied Rufus kept the dust bunnies for company, but being fairly straight-forward and no-nonsense for her age, she did not anthropomorphise her stuffed toys the way the other girls did.

She spent a fair amount of time working at the clutter around her room before someone knocked on her door. Pausing in her work, she sat up from where she had been folding clean laundry and putting it away in the dresser—until recently it had been sitting uselessly in her laundry hamper, while a pile of dirty clothes accumulated in the corner. Wondering who could be bothering her on a Saturday morning, she called out.

"Who is it?"

Normally she would have gotten up and answered the door, but she was thoroughly caught up with the task she had assigned herself and she couldn't be bothered to answer unless it was someone important. When no one responded, she assumed they had gone away and went back to her work.

She was nearly done reorganizing her bookshelf when someone knocked again. A little bit annoyed, she lingered at the shelf to straighten her copy of _The Hobbit _before moving to the door and pulling it open. She was surprised and charmed to see Matt outside her door holding a flower and a bar of chocolate.

"Matt, hi." She smiled warmly up at him, even though she could barely see his eyes through the goggles.

"I came to give you this," He offered her the flower before holding out the bar of chocolate. "And I guess someone left this outside your door."

Ease accepted both from him with a smile. She thought she knew who had left the chocolate—it was probably Mello, and the bow he had stuck to the wrapper gave her reason to assume it was a birthday gift. She would have to thank him for it later.

"Thank you," She said to Matt, grinning. She wanted to ask him to come in and keep her company while she finished reorganizing her books and then moved on to dusting, but she couldn't find the words, let alone think of a way to make it sound appealing. While she hesitated in the doorway, Matt scratched the back of his head and scuffed his toe on the floor. Neither of them quite knew what to say or where to look.

Finally, Matt managed to break the silence. "Well, I guess I'd better go find Mello."

Before Ease could ask him to stay or even say goodbye, he was halfway down the hall and she was left standing in her doorway looking after him, holding a flower in one hand and a bar of chocolate in another. Heaving a sigh, she retreated back into her room, leaving the door open to let things air out a little and returned to reorganizing her books. Her mind was no longer on the task at hand though, as she allowed herself to be distracted thinking about Matt and remembering how nice it had been to sit with with him the night before.

They had spent nearly two hours sitting together on the steps, alternately talking quietly together about this and that and sitting quietly looking up at the moon and stars. She could still remember just how comfortable she had felt with him, resting with her head against his shoulder and her fingers intertwined with his. It had been a wonderful night, something Ease had been secretly hoping for since long before she even cared to admit it to herself, and though she had been too afraid to ask, she felt that perhaps it would be the beginning of something more.

lilili

When Ease saw Mello later that day, she knew that he knew. Of course, Matt _would _tell Mello about something as significant as a first kiss. Knowing that Mello knew didn't make his infuriating smirk any easier to bear however, and Ease spent most of her time with the two boys feeling as though Mello had known all along and had been expecting them to kiss at some point or another. Though he didn't say anything, he looked possibly even more smug than usual, and Ease found herself wanting to slap him just to wipe that smirk off his face. Instead, she ignored him and focused all her attention on Matt as he played his game boy. It was much easier to pretend she didn't know what Mello was smirking about than to acknowledge it. If she ignored him, he might just stop acting so superior and knowledgeable.

Unusually for Mello, he did seem to tire of smirking at the two of them eventually. Though Ease was hardly paying attention to him, she noticed, as she leaned against Matt to watch him fighting the boss on his game, that Mello was displaying all the signs of being bored. Ease knew very well what happened when Mello was bored—she still remembered the humiliating week of seven dresses. She also knew there was one way she might get him to stop bothering her before his attempts to entertain himself even started.

"Oh hey, Mello." She straightened up, looking Mello right in the eye with a smile. "Thanks for the chocolate."

He instantly went red, a nice change from his usual pasty complexion. Ease could feel Matt shifting beside her, and when she looked back at him he was trying to hide a grin.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mello muttered.

For a moment Ease felt bad bringing it up. She knew that Mello had dropped it off without identifying himself because he didn't want to have to give it to her face-to-face. Even though he knew she would assume it had been him (who else would give her a bar of chocolate the day after her birthday?) he had left it there to avoid the confrontation. It was how Mello worked—just like how he would have denied finding her and comforting her the day she had run from her last interview. He didn't want the whole world knowing he was capable of caring. Ease certainly understood that.

Then again, watching him angrily try to change the subject was too funny for her to feel bad for long. While he stuttered and tried to save face, Ease sat back and watched him with a grin spreading slowly across her face. Making Mello uncomfortable was not something she had the chance to do very often. Finally, after struggling to come up with a reason the chocolate could not possibly have been from him, Mello jumped to his feet, shouted something Ease couldn't quite hear but that sounded like "See if I care!" and bounded out of the room.

Ease broke into laughter, and beside her she could see Matt trying to hide a grin.

"You shouldn't tease him like that." He said, hardly looking up from his game.

Trying to maintain the light-hearted attitude she had been struggling to keep up while around Matt, Ease shrugged and stretched in as nonchalant a manner as she could muster. "It's just a good old fashioned taste of his own medicine." She chuckled. "Besides, I thought you'd be proud of me for finally getting the best of him." She was poking fun at him, trying to get him to smile again or even to acknowledge her. Since she had joined them a little bit earlier he had been almost completely focused on his game, only reacting to her presence enough to tilt his screen toward her so that she could see, just as he always did when she wanted to watch him play.

While it wasn't strange that he should be so inattentive, Ease had been hoping that he might be a little bit more attentive, especially considering what had happened the night before. She watched him for a moment, carefully scanning his face for any sign that he might be about to put down his game and talk to her, but he looked fully intent on the game. After a moment, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, finally seeming to become aware of the fact that she was watching him closely.

"Can you not stare at me like that? You're distracting me."

Ease stirred, visibly affected by the way Matt had spoken to her. There was something dismissive about his tone, something that said he not only didn't want her staring at him but didn't want her there at all, that made Ease move away.

"Sorry..." She muttered, getting to her feet and backing away a bit. She watched him for just a moment longer, but he did not react to her movement, and so she quietly left the room, wondering what she had done wrong.

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As that week progressed, Ease began to understand that Matt was not interested in pursuing anything further than what their friendship already was. Feeling a little bit foolish—she had secretly been hoping that for once in her life someone liked her—she threw herself into her work to give herself something to focus on that wasn't a certain dark-haired gamer with orange-tinted goggles and a striped shirt. Nothing would have convinced her to start avoiding the gamer, though. Avoiding him would have been like admitting that she was disappointed. Instead, she acted as though nothing had ever happened, and Matt, and even Mello to her great surprise, acted the same.

She was busy tidying up her room again one morning, a few weeks after her birthday, when someone knocked on her door. She looked up, wondering whether it was the blond or the gamer, or both. When she called "come in!" the door opened, and Mello stepped inside.

"Oh hey," She glanced briefly up from where she sat on the floor, surrounded by books she had borrowed from the extensive library, trying to decide which ones she wanted to keep and read and which ones she ought to take back.

Mello stepped into her room and sat down on the bed uninvited. Ignoring this intrusion of her boundaries, Ease continued sorting the books into different piles, one for the ones she wished to keep, one for the ones she was going to return to the library, and one for the books she was still on the fence about. Mello said nothing, and so she felt no need to engage him. He had interrupted her work; if he had something to say, he would come out and say it. Mello was nothing if not straight-forward.

After they had sat there in silence for nearly ten minutes, Ease finally sat back, giving Mello her full attention. "If you wanted to say something, could you just spit it out? I'm busy."

A smirk that Ease didn't like spread across Mello's face. It was just like all his other smirks, but she was in no real mood to deal with his attitude at the moment. "I was just... you know, trying to figure out why Matt would kiss you."

A flush spread across Ease's cheeks, even as she tried desperately to remain casual. Turning back to her books, she fidgeted with the pages of one, avoiding Mello's gaze carefully. "That's a weird thing to try and figure out, Mello." She said slowly. She hoped her use of his name would convey to him just how uncomfortable she was discussing this with him. She rarely used names in casual conversation—names were something she just didn't feel comfortable using unless she was extremely comfortable with the other person.

He slid down onto the floor in front of her, pulling his knees up to his chest. "I know it is, but I was just so confused. It can't be that he's attracted to you; there are much prettier girls here."

Ease clenched her hands into fists, absolutely certain that if she wasn't careful she would hit him.

"So it must be something else. He must actually like you."

Ease had no more patience for Mello. "Stop it." She snapped, finally turning to look at him again. He looked a bit surprised. "Stop trying to mess with my head. If you're only here to be an ass, then get out." Her hands were still clenched, but she was beyond wanting to hit him now. She just wanted him gone. Standing up, she marched to the door and made a huge show of opening it even wider for him while looking very pointedly at him. She hoped he would get the very clear message she was sending him and just be on his way.

Of course by now she knew that nothing was that simple when Mello was involved.

He took his sweet time getting to his feet, carelessly digging in his pocket for the bar of chocolate Ease knew he always kept on him. Deliberately slowly, he took a bite of the chocolate and stared insolently at her. For a long moment they stared at one another, Ease shaking slightly with the pent of anger. She couldn't think of a legitimate reason for being so angry at the blond, other than that she was tired of dealing with him and was in no mood to put up with him when he just wanted to push her buttons. She looked him right in the eye, trying to summon up the will she would need to forcefully evict him from her room, but thankfully he seemed to give in before she needed to do anything drastic.

"You know," He remarked, not even looking at her as he paused at her side. "Maybe I was wrong. I can't see why anyone would like you."

Ease couldn't say what made her do it. Before Mello could walk past her, she grabbed a handful of his shirt and dragged him the rest of the way out and into the hall. He struggled, but anger had given her an extra determination not to let go, and she pushed him so forcefully he fell. "I told you to get out, Mello." She snarled at him. She hadn't meant to get physical with him; she hadn't resorted to solving her problems that way in many years. A small part of her twinged with pain as she realized what she had done, but that small part of her instantly began to ache when Mello looked up at her with a pained expression. She had never stood up to him this way, never done more than squabble and argue with him when she didn't want to give him his way. Their arguments were something they both understood in a way; it was their chosen method of communication and interaction, because both knew the other thrived on confrontation and the challenge it offered. Her reaction had crossed some border neither of them had been fully aware of until just then.

Instantly Ease regretted what she had done. Her anger fizzled out, and she was left with a deep sense of shame in the pit of her stomach; it felt like her stomach had dropped all the way down to her feet.

She opened her mouth to say something—an apology, maybe? But Mello stood up, brushed himself off, and stalked away.

She ought to have gone after him. She knew it would be easier to fix it now than later, but even if her state of complete shame and remorse, something stopped her. She watched Mello walk away, feeling a little sick.

If Matt actually _had _liked her before, and if Mello _had _actually been her friend, they certainly wouldn't now.

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A/N: Hey, guys. I've had some interesting writer's block lately... also, I've been having computer trouble, which makes it difficult for me to watch the series again and get caught up on time-line and whatnot... This chapter is sort of filler, sort of character development, I guess? I don't know. I've got a head ache, so I'm just giving you what I've got written, and I hope I'll be able to update again next week. Thanks for reading, please review, lots of love and huggles.


	10. Chapter 10

Escape With Ease

Chapter Ten

By Andruindel

lilililili

For the first time since Ease had come to Wammy's house, she was ignoring her friends. It was as though things had reverted back to the way they had been at the beginning, with Ease spending most of her time sitting on the bench out in the grounds, sometimes with a book, other times just sitting and staring into space, and with Mello and Matt sending the occasional look in her direction but otherwise not going out of their way to interact with her. Ease was ignoring them—avoiding them, even. Not through anger. No, she was avoiding them out of shame. Every time she saw Mello, she remembered how angry he had made her, and how she had reacted to that anger in a way she never should have. She remembered the look on his face after she had pushed him to the floor, and she doubted if either of the boys would ever want anything to do with her again. Part of her knew that she should have gone after Mello right away to apologize, but another part of her was too afraid to approach him now. The fear of being rejected and suddenly finding herself absolutely friendless again kept her back.

She spent a lot of lonely days in class, sitting apart from all the others and hiding behind her text books. Most of her evenings were spent even more alone, tucked away in a corner of the library with her homework. She only saw Mello and Matt in class and occasionally at a distance while she sat on her bench and read, but she never spoke to them, and they never approached her. She couldn't even bring herself to look them in the eye.

One night, as she sat alone on the floor in a corner of the library, with books piled in a semi-circle around her, she heard the door open. This wasn't odd in and of itself. The older children were frequent visitors to the library, as the books it held were invaluable to their homework and studying needs. Something about the situation this time made Ease look up, instantly alert. Her instincts had proven true—for some inexplicable reason, Mello and Matt had just entered the library.

Ease instantly ducked behind her towering pile of books—she had almost a cliche amount of books piled around her, proof of the amount of work she had put into the project she was currently working on and the time she had spent in the library that night. Swearing quietly under her breath, she hunched as far down as she could, holding a book up to make it look as though she was just studying intensely. She couldn't say exactly why she so desperately wanted to avoid being seen by the two boys, but the fact remained that she did still desperately want to avoid being seen by them. If they saw her, there was a possibility—however slight—that they would come over to talk to her.

Whether by luck, good fortune, or sheer blindness on the boys' part, she went unnoticed, and the boys made their way down an aisle of books opposite her corner. Overcome by curiosity, Ease carefully popped her head up over the wall of books and listened.

"Why are we here?" Mello almost whined. He hated books, and he hated the library, and Ease was willing to bet if he knew she was there, he would have hated her too.

Matt's response was so quiet Ease couldn't make it out. She strained to hear, brushing the stack of books in her attempts to lean as far as possible.

Of course Mello's words were easy to hear in the hushed atmosphere. He made little effort to keep his voice down. "I don't want to work on this now, we've got all weekend to do it! Besides, we might run into Ease here. You know how crazy she is about books." He mumbled the last part so disgustedly that Ease almost couldn't hear him. "She's probably already almost _done _with this stupid project."

He wasn't wrong, but of course he couldn't know that. Ease was certainly very thankful for the time she had spent accumulating the pile of books and how useful it had turned out to be. If she had spent any less time in the library, or decided to use the least amount of sources possible, she may not have had enough books to hide behind.

When Matt replied, Ease strained forward again to hear him.

"You're going to have to talk to her sooner or later, you know." He said in a fairly neutral tone. Ease's heart jumped—maybe Matt didn't hate her after all!

A few moments of wordless grumbling followed from Mello. Ease thought she was done eavesdropping after nearly ten minutes of silence. She leaned back into the wall, letting her book drop into her lap and sighing. When Mello suddenly spoke again, she perked up.

"What if she hates me now?"

Her jaw dropped.

Mello was worried that _she _might hate _him? _The absurdity almost made her choke, but she managed to stifle the noise of disbelief that nearly burst out of her mouth before she alerted either of the boys to her presence. She sat for a long moment, rocking back and forth with her hand pressed against her mouth, biting down on her knuckle in an agony of indecision. Should she go over to them? What would she say if she did? _"I don't hate you, Mello, and by the way I'm sorry for pushing you, it'd be great if you could forgive me and we could be friends again." _The words sounded too... simple. Too easy. Mello wouldn't accept such a cavalier apology.

Would he?

She was still sitting in the midst of her mountain of books, rocking and biting her knuckle and trying to decide what to do, when Mello and Matt suddenly turned the corner to peruse the other side of the shelf of books they had been looking at. As they appeared around the corner, Ease froze, they froze, and for a moment none of them knew how to react to the others' sudden presence. They hadn't spoken in weeks. What could someone do in a situation like that?

Ease reacted with the first thing that came to mind.

She bolted.

Books flew in all directions as she scrambled past the wall of them and dashed toward the library door. She thought she heard a shout behind her, but she wasn't pausing to find out. Like a scared animal, she made for the first sign of cover, barreling out of the library and down the hall to the first empty classroom she found. She hit the door at a run, shouldering it open and slamming it closed behind her. Heart beating, eyes wide, suddenly realizing that there was no real reason for her to have run, she dove behind the teacher's desk to hide, in case Matt and Mello came after her. If she was going to act completely irrationally, she may as well go the whole nine yards.

As she crouched under the desk, her heart-rate slowly faded back to its regular pace, and she managed to catch her breath. Shame fell over her again at that point—shame for the way she had acted, shame for what she had done to get herself into this situation in the first place, shame that she couldn't just go up to Mello and apologize to him. She was fourteen years old (practically an adult!) and she was still too immature and afraid to just own up to her mistakes and apologize. Feeling absolutely, completely crummy, she crawled back out from under the desk, brushed herself off, and crept back toward the door. Mello and Matt probably hadn't come after her. She hadn't heard any footsteps at any rate.

Thinking she was safe, she opened up the door and stepped into the corridor.

"Ease."

She jumped about a foot in the air, spinning around in the same movement and striking some sort of defensive pose, her arms extended in front of her, fists lightly clenched in anticipation of throwing a punch. Seeing that it was Matt, leaning very casually against the wall beside the door as though this was the most natural place in the world for him to be, did very little to ease her tension. She slowly lowered her fists, wondering if she ought to run again, but deciding against it. Matt had initiated contact—did that mean the weeks of solitude were coming to an end?

"Matt. You scared me." She said unnecessarily.

He ignored her, pushing away from the wall and stepping in her direction. She shied away from his touch, but did not try to stop him from putting his hands on both her shoulders. He had grown some over the years, so he had to bend down a bit to look her in the eye. She hadn't noticed until just now, but he was more than a foot taller than her—she hadn't grown much since her arrival at Wammy's house at all. Hunching her shoulders, she tried to avoid his eyes, but he just looked at her until she had to look up at him.

He looked tired. More tired than usual, that is. His eyes lacked their usual spark, and his mouth was set in a line that, while not severe, was not quite friendly. Ease was fully expecting him to lecture her. To yell at her. Hell, he could have hit her and she would have deserved it. Instead, he looked solemnly down at her for a moment before tilting his head down a bit. Before Ease knew it, he had kissed her. His lips were as soft as she remembered them, and the faint lingering taste of tobacco showed that he had smoked recently. The smell was so familiar—so _Matt—_that she instantly melted into the contact. Her fingers tangled in the front of his vest, and she kissed him back with all the fervor of the inexperienced.

When they broke apart, Ease looked shyly up into Matt's face. The strict set of his mouth had been replaced by a tiny smile. He leaned his forehead against hers, resting his hand on her neck comfortably. "I've missed you so much." He whispered.

Ease's heart was doing back flips out of sheer joy. She looked up at Matt, speechless with the sudden turn of events. All this time she had thought Matt was ignoring her because he was mad at her, like Mello was. She was so glad to hear that he had missed her too.

After a moment of just enjoying the others' close proximity, Matt spoke again. "You and Mello need to resolve this stupid rift." Ease had been expecting him to bring it up. "I don't like it when you two fight, cuz then _I _get stuck in the middle, and I hate choosing between the two of you. It's been hell staying away from you, and... knowing you were avoiding me just made it even worse."

That horrible, familiar sense of shame came back as Matt spoke, and Ease hung her head. The last few weeks had been hard on everyone—she could see that now. How long would she and Mello have gone, each thinking the other hated them, if Matt hadn't finally decided to step in and do something about it? She would have slunk away in shame if Matt hadn't tipped her chin up, catching her attention again.

"Please, just talk to Mello."

Ease took a deep breath. "I will. First thing tomorrow."

Smiling, Matt ducked down to kiss her again. "That's my girl." He murmured as he pulled away, mussing her hair a bit.

They were just going in to kiss again when someone stepped out of the library. Jumping apart, they looked down the corridor guiltily. They weren't supposed to be kissing in the corridors. They weren't technically supposed to be kissing at all. Exchanging guilty smiles, they shuffled awkwardly for a few moments, not sure what to do.

"I'd better go find Mello."

"Yeah, and I'd better go put all those books away." Ease sighed at the prospect.

Grinning, Matt brushed the back of one gloved hand across her cheek. "You'll talk to Mello?"

"I'll talk to Mello."

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A/N: Hey guys! I'm back, though for how long is uncertain... I know this chapter is a bit short, but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I hope that I'll be able to continue updating even as school starts up again for me, but we'll see. Thanks for reading, don't forget to review, and hey, since you're here:

**Check out Citrine Nebulae's Death Note fan fiction "Anathema"**


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